


I can't dare to dream about you anymore

by idratherhaveyoucursedornot



Category: Purple Hyacinth - Ephemerys & Sophism (Webcomic), The Moonlighters
Genre: 5K for 5K, Attorney!Kieran, F/M, GO READ THE MOONLIGHTERS FIRST LOL, GO READ THE MOONLIGHTERS OMG, PH SUBFANDOM GO BRRRRRRRR, Prosecutor!Lauren, SIMP!Kieran, SIMP!Lauren, The Moonlighters - Freeform, between Arc 1 and Arc 2, fanfic of a fanfic lmao, hahahahahaha, this is so self indulgent tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29172693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idratherhaveyoucursedornot/pseuds/idratherhaveyoucursedornot
Summary: GO READTHE MOONLIGHTERSBYGIGGLE&WATERSIF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY!!!!!HAPPY 5K!!!!!!The Moonlighters, a brilliant fic based onPurple HyacinthbySophismandEphemerys.
Relationships: Chaotic Siblings Kyki - Relationship, Kym Ladell & Kieran White, Kym Ladell & Lauren Sinclair, Lauren Sinclair & Kieran White, Lauren Sinclair/Kieran White, lauki
Comments: 13
Kudos: 49





	I can't dare to dream about you anymore

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MiddayGiggle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiddayGiggle/gifts), [Charulean_Waters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charulean_Waters/gifts).



> 4 times that Lauren finds herself reaching for Kieran, and 1 time that she doesn’t but finds him anyway///
> 
> Happy 5K HITS GIGGLE AND WATERS!!!

One step after another in the winter chill, Lauren drew her arms around herself as she walked to the precinct. Despite the case against Lukas being dropped due to lack of evidence, she still had the weight of finding the true killer over her shoulders. A mantle of her own taking. It was rather ambitious of her, to even imagine that she could make a dent, much less incarcerate an assassin belonging to one of the largest, oldest, and arguably most powerful Mafia Families in Ardhalis. It was a Herculean task, indeed, but _someone_ had to do it, and she surely couldn’t sit back in light of what the things she had uncovered.

Hermann’s family had been understanding, surprisingly well versed with the afflictions and connotations of legal proceedings. Though, none of them had said a word out loud, or even so much as exhaled a lie, she wouldn’t blame them, were they filled with disdain, what with watching the only suspect in Hermann’s case turning out to be innocent and walking free.

Crossing the street, she made a beeline for the door of the precinct. It was a burden, truly, and thankfully, it wasn’t a burden that she had to bear alone. She opened the door and as if on cue, the door budged against another person. Oh, the _irony_. She looked up to see the brunt of the slam being borne by the same man that had been shouldering the weight of the ‘ _unofficial_ ’ case with her.

Hiding a chuckle at how she seemed to always run into him figuratively, as well as literally, Lauren asked Kieran if he was alright. On repeated insisting that he was fine, even as he rubbed his arm, Lauren reeled back in amusement, biting down a smile at him, “Mr. White. What a _pleasant_ surprise.”

Rubbing his arm, Kieran smiled, a sincerity hidden just below the surface of that practiced curve of indifference of his, “Nice to see you, Ms. Sinclair. What brings you here?”

Refraining from rolling her eyes in public, Lauren glared at him. As if he didn’t _already_ know. She did just tell him exactly what she would be doing when they met yesterday.

“I actually had a lunch date with Kym and Will.”

Feigning surprise, he asked, “Oh, really? **I didn't know**.” Pointing to the building with a sweep of his eyes, he spoke, “I was dropping off lunch for Lukas.”

Covering up her unamused pout with a cough, Lauren replied, moving to stand beside the door, “Really? **Such a nice _coincidence_**.”

Realizing how they were actually blocking the entrance, Kieran followed her, taking a step to the side. He smirked, cordiality turning into a toothy smile. and a pointed glare with a gleam of mischief, “I just _happened_ to be in the area. It really is.”

Not a lie, and yet, she couldn’t help but doubt it, glowering at him half-heartedly. There was always too much going on in that _devious_ mind of his for anything at all to be brushed off as mere coincidence. Unabashedly, he stared right back at Lauren until the ticking of her watch broke through to her. Rolling her eyes, with as much subtlety as she could for good measure, she stepped back bowing a little.

“Well, then. See you later, Mr. White.” 

The second hand of her watch moved as did they, Lauren turning to her side to step into the precinct, as Kieran turned to his side to move down the steps, into the street. As Lauren reached for the door once more, Kieran called after her, “ **I'm afraid you dropped this, miss**.”

Lauren turned at the shrill sound, answer at the ready even before she saw what she had _supposedly_ dropped, “Oh, I'm quite sure that I didn't have any-“

Her eyes dropped to Kieran’s hand before they could take a look at his face to discern anything from his eyes.

The Secret Garden. First Edition.

Voice low, she admonished, “Kieran.”

Just one single word from her enough of a demand for an explanation, Kieran nearly drew back on himself, “ **I have no idea what you're talking about**.” He thrust the book into her hand.

It had merely been an off-handed comment in passing, when she had told him of her love for the book, and the sorrow at misplacing her only treasured copy. One hand gripping the door, Lauren looked around, whispering, “This is _clearly_ not mine. I can't accept this.” She thrust the book back into his hand.

Kieran laughed, nudging the book right back into her hand, “It was just lying around.” Sensing another bout of back and forth, he let his hand linger, the weight of it flowing through the book and onto Lauren’s palm. Sincere as ever, he asked, “Am I lying?”

Lauren’s gaze softened.

“No, but- “

Kieran whispered, “It's yours, Lauren.”

Lauren looked up once more to meet his eyes, and all the softness that they held took away whatever excuse she could’ve come up with. An itch in her hands to hold on to something, she gripped the handle tighter against the intensity of his stare, finally letting a true smile grace her face as she thanked him. Satisfied, Kieran took a step back, and Lauren may or may not have instantly regretted it.

Stepping down the precinct stairs, he waved at her, “Take care, Ms. Sinclair.”

Just like that, Kieran White left, leaving Lauren’s mind as inarticulate a mess as it could ever be. Maybe it was a good thing that she was holding onto the door. If she wasn’t, she truly might have reached out to stop him, the company they had and the onlookers, if any, be _damned_.

__________

Fingers running over the spines of the records, as her thoughts ran over the case number on repeat, Lauren shot back at the shuffling behind the shelf, “Just one more minute, Kym.”

“I’d be sure to relay the message.”

That was certainly _not_ Kym. Lauren turned around, facing the source of the sound.

“Oh, it’s _you_.”

Kieran laughed at her exasperation, even as she turned back to the morose shelf stacked haphazardly with files, mocking indignation, “Oh, _darling_ , now I’m truly hurt. I imagined you’d be happier to see me.”

Huffing a laugh, Lauren shot him a look over her shoulder, fingers pausing in their dance over the bindings, “Why would I be?”

Kieran stepped forward, leaning on the shelf behind her, “I wonder why Kym is out there instead of helping you out if you’re _‘taking forever to find some dumb file that anyone else could get for you’_.”

Chuckling at his words and recognizing Kym’s attitude in them, she stated, “Because it is _urgent_ and”, she hesitated, though she didn’t think that he didn’t already know, continuing timidly, “I may or may not have been banned from the records room for a week.”

“ **Because you fell asleep here, yes**.” Kieran teased her.

Ignoring him in favor of finding the file, she bent down to look at the lower rows, grinning in delight at discovering the number she had memorized like the back of her hand.

_27 1 00043 3_

_01-A-0043_

Crouched down, she looked up, grinning back at him, “I found the file!”

However, the sound of the records room door opening and abruptly shutting caught her attention, as the voice in bland conversation with Kym filtered through. A brash, loud voice seeping through the slight crack of the door, and she recognized it, _unfortunately_. Case file in one hand, and the edge of Kieran’s coat in another she rushed to the closet behind her tugging him along, just in time, as the door flew open once more. Stumbling into the closet, Kieran braced himself with one hand against the closet wall, his briefcase in the other, as Lauren stuck to the door, with her ear fixed upon it.

Amusement turning to a slight frown, Kieran began to question, “Why are we-”, only to be shushed by Lauren as she tried to fished for the sounds coming from outside the closet and made an effort to place them. Rustling of paper, a binder hitting a desk, and some more rustling. Thankfully, Attorney Holton only seemed to be paying attention to whatever files she was looking for, or so Lauren assumed from the sound of pages flying around. God knows what new hell she might unleash for her, if given the chance. Well aware, that Holton would hardly stay for five minutes, and would surely not need any equipment from the closet, Lauren relaxed a bit.

Lauren caught a whiff of Kieran’s cologne. He _did_ always smell nice, but this close, there was a subtle woody fragrance to it, and something more that she couldn’t quite place. Memories clicking in place, Lauren smiled despite the threat over both their heads with Holton right outside. It took a long minute, but she recalled the vague scent from her memory of much dreaded lessons as a child. The _ashy_ smell of charcoal. Did he draw, perhaps?

Turning to Kieran, who she regretted bringing into this mess with her, she began to explain, only to match the frown on his face, that he was trying and failing to suppress. Hands tightening around the case file, as she watched his hand turn to a fist against the wall beside her, she asked, “Kieran? Are you okay?”

Brushing off her remark entirely, he asked her, “Why _exactly_ are we hiding?”

Lauren supposed it was meant to be teasing, but it came across as nothing more than an anxious whisper. Even as sweat began to form at his hairline, Lauren could tell that whatever the matter was, he wouldn’t talk about it, and so, Lauren did what she _could_ do, distracting him with conversation. She delved into the actual narrative of the _why_ behind her ban from the records room, trying her best to be humorous.

Kieran laughed and yet, the sound wrung hollow against the backdrop of his ever-present liveliness, and Lauren hated how she knew it all too well by now, to be able to come to _that_ conclusion. Eyes shut even as his face seemed to contort in pain, Lauren didn’t quite know what to say to change it, even as she went on about Kym’s antics. This close she could hear him breathe, feel his exhales tapering against the hollow of her neck, and she was sure if she stood even an inch closer, she could probably hear his heartbeat too, which must be a mile a minute for his face to look that flushed.

Even as her words mingled and her story finally ended up with how Kym had agreed to look out for her as she attempted to find the file by herself, she couldn’t help but notice how close they stood in that cramped closet.

With the force of a gale, and the softness of a breeze, it clicked. The realization clicked, reaching the crevices of her mind.

_The sweat, the shaking of his hands, the lie, the elevator, the closet. It all clicked._

_That foolish man._

He couldn’t handle being in enclosed spaces, and he didn’t say a single word about it.

Lauren nearly caught his face in her hands, an unspoken apology bristling on her tongue, when a loud slam caught them both off-guard. They stared at the closet door in confusion. A minute of hushed whispers from the outside passed, when at last, a loud protest made it into their evanescent bubble.

“Did you two _finally_ learn to teleport?”

Kym.

Kieran opened the door, nearly tumbling out. Lauren followed after him, as Kieran jabbed at Kym, “ **Yes,** **of course. The portal is right behind that shelf**.”

Kym retorted right back, and if she had noticed a peculiarity, god bless her soul, she didn’t bring it up. She didn’t tease them either, even though it was one of the few pleasures she had recently begun to indulge herself in more. The three of them walked out of the records room, and then, the courthouse, Lauren falling into place behind Kieran and Kym, as their conversation took on a particularly sardonic turn, that she would only expect from the two of them.

Kieran’s nonchalant smile and jovial retorts stirred something in her heart, that she couldn’t quite address. That she didn’t know _how_ to address just yet. A cross between pity and concern made home in her heart, even as she sided with Kym in her argument against Kieran.

He _truly_ was suffering mere minutes ago and yet; he hadn’t said a single word.

__________

A sneeze and then another made Kieran’s ears perk up even before he could get the door open. Eyeing the enraging snow storm outside his windows, he rushed to the door. Only one stubborn fool in the _entire_ city of Ardhalis would be outside the cozy comfort of home in an actual storm. Opening the door, he let Lauren in, pointed glare already in place over her shaking form, “I didn't expect you to come _now_.”

Stepping inside, Lauren took off her boots. Rubbing her nose, she spoke, trying to feign indifference, “Well, what can I-“, she paused, holding in a sneeze, as her fingers shook against the edge of her nose. Kieran shook his head at her, shutting the door to his apartment, against the slight chill that seemed to seep from the large hallway.

Sneezes in sequence interrupting whatever façade of nonchalance she could’ve kept up, Lauren’s words finally escaped her in bits and pieces, “-do, especially when you say that you-“, one sneeze, “have a Viper-“, and another, “a Viper spy unveiled?”

Dropping a pair of slippers in front of her, he helped her take off her coat, and if he didn’t know better, he would’ve assumed it to have come straight from a wash. How Lauren managed to _oh, so brilliantly_ disregard her own health, he really did not want to consider.

Letting her coat drip down a steady stream next to the door, Kieran moved to the kitchen cabinet, regretting ever calling her at her office. He huffed at the memory, “It's a snowstorm, Lauren.” He began to shuffle through the drawers to find the sauce pan. Lila did say she had placed it in the right lower drawer. Or was that the left? Bent under the kitchen counter, he shot back, “This could've waited.” Poking his head out to glare at her, he spoke, “Why am I not surprised?”

And truly, he wasn’t. He knew better than anyone, especially _lately_ , just how stubborn Lauren could be when she had her eyes set on her goals. As if reading her mind, she bit back, voice strong, never losing her bite even as shivers wrecked her to the bone, “Oh, _please_ , and in my defense, **I was already out for a case**.”

Standing to lean down on the kitchen island, he glared at her, “You have the cold tolerance of a _crab_. A _beach crab_ , at that.”

Crossing her arms, Lauren met his glare in full force, “I do _not_.”

She had _never_ been more thankful for Kym and her animal facts. Never one to back down, she countered, “And all crabs burrow in the mud to survive winters, so, technically-“

Another string of sneezes wrecked her to the bone. Kieran took a deep breath, the fight leaving him. Pleading, he looked at her, “Go find something in the closet, I'll make you soup.”

“I'm fi-“

“ _Drenched_.” He cut her off abruptly, “The word you're looking for? _Drenched_.”

Lauren stood for a minute, staring at him. Behind the retorts and the mockery was genuine care, and she didn’t need her ability to see it. The apartment was warm. _Well_ , anything was warmer than the disastrous winds outside, yet somehow, Kieran’s presence was a little ball of sunshine. Her very on sun, as he leaned palms flat on the counter, and _oh_ , how _~~convenient~~_ unfortunate it was that her hands were too cold. She broke the stare, coughing into her hand.

Finally moving in the direction of his room, she muttered off-handedly, “Fine, _mother_.”

Kieran shot back, “Go get changed, you thoughtless stubborn fool.”

A sigh of relief escaping him, he opened the refrigerator, taking out a tomato and basil leaves. She truly did not know _when_ to stop, and he couldn’t help but smile, unaware of having signed his name on to the list of people that had made it their life mission to pester one Lauren Sinclair into following healthier habits.

__________

“So, _this_ is the file.”

Kieran tossed a shifty brown envelope onto the table. Lauren peered down on the coffee table over the bowl of soup in her hands. Surprisingly, Kieran was not a disastrous cook, though she didn’t know why it came as a surprise to her.

Shifting her legs under the blanket, she leaned forward to pick up the envelope, as Kieran took the empty bowl from her hands. Bunching up the long sleeve of his sweater over her forearm, Lauren opened the envelope, eyes lighting up in recognition at the photograph, and dulling down just as fast when she read the first page. Dejected she sunk into the sofa, turning to face Kieran.

“ _Harvey_ was a Viper? Harvey Wood?” 

Kieran shrugged dejectedly, wiping his hands on a dish towel. Pouring out two cups of tea, he explained, “He got killed for being incompetent.”

Lauren dropped her head against the back of the sofa, shutting her eyes, thoughts coming to a halt even as her mind ran too fast. It hadn’t been too long before Hermann’s death that Kym and Will found Harvey’s corpse in the janitor’s closet. That had been a rough morning for the both of them, and from what Will had told her, the incident had shaken up Kym more than she would ever admit.

Kieran walked over, placing both cups on the table. Dropping down onto the sofa, a note of wariness in his words, he confirmed, “And I suppose this is another thing that we wouldn’t be divulging to our precinct friends.”

Lauren turned to looked at him, willing her eyes open. She laughed a little, but it came across too hollow, “And for once I am glad for it.” At Kieran’s questioning gaze, she replied, “Kym and Will found his body, as well. He was so _sweet_. They _mourned_ him.”

Kieran nodded in understanding.

Lauren shot up straight, cogs turning to reveal the detail she had missed to address, “That means that Harvey's replacement-“

Kieran continued her line of thought, “-is also most likely a mole, yes.”

Lauren rubbed a hand over her face.

“This is- it's too much.”

Kieran leaned into the sofa, the weight of his head crushing his palm as his elbow dug further into the soft fabric. He took a deep breath, “It's supposed to be. Golden viper venom is one of the most painful ways to die.” 

Kieran may be incredibly resourceful, yet, he was still a _Reaper_. Narrowing her eyes at him, Lauren asked, “How did _you_ get the file?”

Kieran smirked at her, almost as if he expected the question, “Ever heard of plausible deniability, Ms. Sinclair? Take advantage of it when you can.”

 _That imprudent, infuriating smirk_.

Lauren almost threw a cushion at him. _Almost_. Relenting the sudden urge to hit him, that always seemed to strike her unexpectedly, she asked him, “Where do we go from here?”

Kieran stared at her, at the undeniably obvious exhaustion on her face before replying softly, “Nowhere.”

Then, trying to lighten the mood, he mused, staring out the window, “There's an actual storm outside, in case you didn't notice.”

Lauren huffed, “I walked through it.”

Kieran rolled his eyes at her, reiterating, “Which was a _foolish_ thing to do.”

Now? _Now_ , Lauren did throw a cushion at Kieran’s face, which he evaded just in time, leaving it to bounce off of the head of the sofa and onto the floor. A silent truce, he handed her the cup of tea, and in honor of that truce, she accepted it despite how much her body demanded caffeine. Just one sip, and it was enough for her to know that any sort of tea couldn’t possibly replace what those dark roasted beans did for her soul.

Kieran got up from the sofa, picking up the cushion. The revelations and the warmth of the tea drawing a sigh out of her, Lauren made to get up as well.

“I should be going home.”

Placing the cushion on her head, Kieran cleared his throat, “Oh? _You_ are only going to bed.” Annoyed, Lauren swatted at his hand, missing it entirely. Kieran leaned on the sofa, readying himself for another argument, if need be. Pointing to the howling outside the window, he reasoned, “It's past midnight, and _that monstrosity_ isn't letting up any time soon.”

Following his line of vision, Lauren glared at the storm and then, right back at him. Eyes finally dropping to his hand beside her head, her eyes lingered at his fingers gripping the sofa. He had beautiful, slender fingers. An artistic or creative person, or so she had read somewhere. Shaking her head clear of all thoughts, she glared at the storm for personally offending her.

Not so surprisingly, Lauren could agree with Kieran.

__________

A scream pitched through the dark and Kieran shot up straight from the sofa. Eyes fretting in the dark, from one corner to another, and coming to no conclusion. He took a deep breath, rubbing a hand over his face. He didn’t remember having a nightmare, but then the scream-

Another scream, if you could even call it that, reached his ears. It was hardly audible, muffled as if-

_Lauren._

Pushing the quilt to the side, he got up from the sofa, rushing the few steps to his bedroom, and coming to freeze beside the bookshelf.

Tapping out a knock on the shelf, then another, and then, calling out to her, he hesitated. Lauren had clearly sounded so in agony, and he surely did not have the nerves to wait on the other side and put up his own musings as to the reason why she had called out in her sleep. At the lack of a response, he peeked into his room, “Lauren?”

He walked ahead, calling out to her, but she lay asleep against the sound. Illuminated in the incandescence of the falling snow outside, Kieran could easily make out her face contorted in pain. At another bout of words that left her tongue in slurred speech, he crouched next to the bed.

So, it had been a nightmare. Simply, not his.

Trying to shake her from sleep, he called to her softly, “Lauren? Wake up, darling. It’s just a nightmare.”

She stilled at his voice, though, she did not budge. He tried once more, eyebrows shooting up in dubiety once more as she didn’t wake up. With her vivacity, and her distinguished vigilance, he had surely expected her to be a light sleeper.

Brushing the thought out of his mind, he reached for her, purely out of a mere intuition. Simply a gut feeling that called to him. Feeling her forehead with the back of his hand, he knew he wasn’t wrong in his assumption. It seared his skin nearly as blithely as her figure had seared itself into his memory.

 _Of course_ , she had a fever.

“ _That_ is what happens when you walk through a storm, you fool.”

He scolded, though she didn’t hear it, and even if she could, she would hear the weariness and concern over the teasing. Kieran stared at her, trying to find any hint of discomfort in her form. Coming to the conclusion that she must be well asleep, free of any otherworldly intrusions, he got up. Tucking the covers up to her chin, and already making an attempt to recall where Lila had placed the first aid box, he began to leave.

Lauren’s hand shot out from under the covers, as part of whatever nightmare was plaguing her, no doubt. The motion made him pause in his steps and turn around. The words, however, just a simple pair of words, the only ones that had been audible enough amidst her fever-induced sputtering, made him stay. A hushed, wrecking whisper even as her hand trembled, reaching out to something or someone that she knew she couldn’t hold on to. The way her fingers clenched into a fist, making it abundantly clear how she couldn’t let go either.

Stepping back, Kieran sat down on the floor, next to the bed. Holding onto her hand, he tucked it under the covers, leaning his head onto the bedding.

Her question a silent unconscious whisper.

_Don’t leave._

He replied in kind, in the hold of his hand.

_I won’t._

“Dylan!”, Lauren screamed.

She remembered that. Remembered every moment. The scent of roses and freesias in her mother’s garden. The metallic tang of blood that still filled her senses. How they both overlapped into a _heinous_ thing, in every one of her nightmares. How could innocence ever come to be charred to a crisp as such?

It was _too much_.

It was always too much.

Silent screams as she ran after him, and all she could feel was fire inside her bones, burning her up and turning her to ashes. Even as she chased after his retreating, ever diminishing form, time turned back. Her strides grew shorter as she was back to being twelve years old once more, back to playing cops and robbers in her mother’s garden.

Chasing after Dylan, the screams turned to faint laughter as she found herself forever too far to reach him. After a seeming eternity of rushing, she found herself nearing the hedge of holly that graced the end of Sinclair Manor. It had been a long time that she had last seen them lively, losing form in the absence of an ardent caretaker after her parents’ deaths.

Walking closer, she recognized the hedge to be just as intact as in her earliest memories. Lauren found the hedge and feared it. It was an inevitable ending for her nightmares. The only way they ever ended was how she chased after that sliver of hope, that shining head of silver hair, only to lose him.

His voice rang through her head, and so she dashed in the direction, letting her ears guide her steps at the faint sounds. Despite that knowledge, or rather, in spite of that knowledge that it would soon turn into a nightmare, and would eventually come to an end, she chased after him with that inevitability in mind.

“Dylan! Don’t leave!”

But.

But this time, the impossible happened.

Lauren caught up to Dylan, reaching for his hand, and she caught it. She held onto his hand, catching her breath and he turned around to look at her, smile just as beaming as from her memory. Or was it? Maybe she didn’t have any true memories left of him. Maybe it had truly been too long and his smile and all else that was left of him inside her mind was a conjuring of her own psyche.

“You caught me, Ren!”

Dylan smiled at her but his lips didn’t move a twitch, forever frozen, the same was as in the photograph she had kept, the only one of the two she could’ve salvaged.

“You know what that means, don’t you?”

Lauren stared at him, “No. I don’t.” Voice hoarse, she tugged at his hand, “Dylan?”

His hand began to fade from her grasp, even as the weight of it remained behind. Dylan vanished into her dreamscape, right in front of her eyes, as Lauren came back to the land of the living. Her dreams never ended as such.

Blinking the peculiar dream out of her eyes with great effort, she paused, feeling a weight against her hand. Mind thrown into disarray she took in a deep breathe, the flurry of falling snow outside, providing a dim glow to the room. A room that wasn’t her own. Feeling a throbbing in her head, she turned, feeling a tug on her own hand, and coming to face a messy mop of black hair.

It came into her focus for a second and dissipated just as fast, and she realized he was holding onto her hand. Shoving the remnants of the dream from her mind, the memory of Dylan in her mother’s garden, she forced her eyes open against the searing pain in her head.

Kieran was holding onto her hand.

She stared at his sleeping form, wondering how he had-

_Oh, no._

Had she-

She didn’t remember exactly but-

Lauren took a deep breath.

_Of course, she had._

Just her luck. Before she could spiral any further, however, Kieran’s light snoring brought a smile to her face. It surely couldn’t be comfortable, the way his back bent against the frame of the bed. Wriggling her hand free from his grip she failed. Making an effort to wake him up, she succeeded by no degree, as Kieran held onto her hand with no intention of letting go.

The weight of his hand against hers was a welcome weight, and it was rather warm. Just as warm as he was in his ministrations and actions. At least, for her. Lauren stared at him for a moment, taking in his light snoring, and she realized that she didn’t mind this at all. Not one bit. She smiled, nudging herself further under the covers, falling asleep with the thought, wondering if he ever even wore gloves.

And if when morning came, Lauren woke up next to a glass of water and medicines on her bedside and feigned ignorance, and Kieran acted as if he had never heard a single scream as he made a cup of his favorite Earl grey and a cup of her favorite dark roast (no milk, no sugar, mind you)?

 _Well_ , those are their choices to make.

**Author's Note:**

> /// This is literally lowkey just 5K words of me trying to find ways to simp over Kieran's hands but alright 
> 
> And also 4+1 one-shot formats are superior HAHAHAHA
> 
> Me 🤝 [Mac](https://archiveofourown.org/users/macandcaseus)  
> Writing fanfic for a fanfic lmao  
> You should check out their Gold Rush AU: [The Moonshiners](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29001933/chapters/71176857)!!!!!
> 
> HAPPY 5K GIGGLE AND CHAR!!!!! THANK YOU BRINGING ME LKW AND MORE MORALLY AMBIGUOUS STUBBORN SINCLAIR!!!! YOU GUYS DESERVE IT ALL AND MORE!!!!!


End file.
